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And thou their natures know'ft, and gav'ft them names,
Needless to thee repeated; nor unknown

The serpent subtlest beast of all the field,
Of huge extent sometimes, with brazen eyes
And hairy mane terrific, though to thee

Not noxious, but obedient at thy call.

Now Heav'n in all her glory fhone, and roll'd Her motions, as the great first Mover's hand

495

500 First

505. There wanted yet the mafter work, &c.] The author here remember'd and copied Ovid, Met. I. 76.

Sanctius his animal, mentisque ca-
Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in
pacius altæ
cætera poffet.--

Finxit in effigiem moderan-
tum cuncta Deorum.
Pronaque cum fpectent animalia

Paris 1744. wherein the curious author has collected all that Swammerdam and others have written upon the fubject. He fays that in a hive there is commonly one queen, and perhaps a thousand males called drones, and near 20000 working bees of no fex that can be diftinguifh'd. The queen or mother bee is longer than the rest, and will produce one year with another from thirty to forty thousand bees. The drones or husbands of this queen, except when they are paying their duty to her, live idly and luxuriously Juffit, et erectos ad fidera tollere upon the finest honey, whereas the common bees live in great measure upon wax; and the queen herself will condefcend to wait upon the drones, and bring them honey; and fo, as Milton expreffes it, feeds her busband drone deliciously.

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cætera terram,

Os homini fublime dedit; cœlumque tueri

vultus.

A creature of a more exalted kind
Was wanting yet, and then was

Man defign'd:
Conscious of thought, of more ca-
pacious breaft,

For empire form'd, and fit to rule the reft.

-Thus while the mute creation downward bend

Their fight, and to their earthly mother tend,

Man

First wheel'd their courfe; earth in her rich attire
Confummate lovely fmil'd; air, water, earth,
By fowl, fish, beaft, was flown, was fwum, was walk'd
Frequent; and of the fixth day yet remain'd;
There wanted yet the mafter work, the end
Of all yet done; a creature who not prone
And brute as other creatures, but indued
With fanctity of reafon, might erect

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a creature who not prone To earth, nor mute, nor beflial, but indued

With fanctity, Speech, reafon. I agree with him that Milton had Ovid in view, when he compos'd thefe verses. Let us fee then what are the Doctor's objections against them. Prone, fays he, barely put, does not express what Milton aim'd at from Ovid, viz.

Pronaque cum spectent animalia

cætera terram.

It is true, that Ovid fays more than prone: but Milton, who was perfectly skill'd in the force of Latin words, knew that pronus in Latin fufficiently exprefs'd what Ovid thro' a redun

505

His

dancy of ftile had express'd by two more words Spectent terram. Any good Latin dictionary will furnish the reader with examples of pronus us'd in this fenfe without any additional word; and Milton himfelf ufes it fo again in VIII. 433. Why, as other creatures? fays the Doctor, when the Angels are creatures neither prone, nor brute. But does not Ovid's animalia cætera and Cicero's cæteras animantes in his De Leg. L. 1. warrant Milton's faying as other creatures? Thofe other creatures can be none but fuch as Raphael had been defcribing the creation of; and therefore Angels are excluded fufficiently from being underflood here. [And Milton, I fuppofe, made ufe of the word creatures

as creature went before; a creature not as other creatures.] With fancity of reason: what does of do here? fays the Doctor; he would have us read With fanctity and reafon. Ovid's words are thefe,

Sanctius his animal, mentisque capacius alta.

And

His ftature, and upright with front ferene

Govern the reft, felf-knowing, and from thence 510
Magnanimous to correspond with Heaven,

But grateful to acknowledge whence his good
Defcends, thither with heart and voice and eyes
Directed in devotion, to adore

And worship God fupreme, who made him chief 515
Of all his works: therefore th' Omnipotent

Eternal Father (for where is not he

Present?) thus to his Son audibly spake.

Let us make now Man in our image, Man

In our fimilitude, and let them rule

520

Over the fish and fowl of fea and air,

Beaft of the field, and over all the earth,

And this verfe our poet had in his mind, no doubt. But instead of merely copying from it, he has improv'd it by expreffing Ovid's meaning in clearer and fewer words; for in Ovid the fanctity of the creature confifts in its having reason, and this Milton better expreffes by fanctity of reafon. When the Doctor upon fecond thoughts proposes to read, With fanctity, speech, reafon, he adds a circumstance not to be found in the Heathen poet, and therefore not intended (I prefume) by Milton.

Pearce. 519. Let us make now Man in our image, &c.] The author

And

keeps clofely to Scripture in his account of the formation of Man as well as of the other creatures. And God faid, Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the fea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattel, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created Man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them. And God bleffed them, and God faid unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenifh the earth, and fubdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the

fea,

And every creeping thing that creeps the ground.
This faid, he form'd thee, Adam, thee, O Man,

Duft of the ground, and in thy noftrils breath'd 525 The breath of life; in his own image he

Created thee, in the image of God

Exprefs, and thou becam'ft a living foul.

Male he created thee, but thy confort

Female for race; then blefs'd mankind, and faid, 530
Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth,
Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold
Over fifh of the fea, and fowl of th' air,

And every living thing that moves on th' earth.
Wherever thus created, for no place

Is

yet distinct by name, thence, as thou know'ft,

fea, and over the forel of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen. I. 26, 27, 28. I have fet down the paffage at length, that the reader may compare the divine hiftorian and the poet together. There are scarce any alterations, but what were requifite for the verse, or were occafion'd by the change of the perfon, as the Angel is fpeaking to Adam. And what additions are made, are plainly of the fame original, as the reader may fee by comparing both together. And the Lord God formed Man of the duft of the ground, and breath'd into his noftrils the breath of

535

He

life, and Man became a living foul. Gen II. 7.

535. Wherever thus created, &c.] The facred text fays that the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the Man whom he had formed, Gen. II. 8. And afterwards, ver. 15. And the Lord God took the Man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. This seems to imply that Man was created in fome other place, and was afterwards brought into the garden of Eden; and therefore Milton fays,

Wherever thus created, for no place

He brought thee into this delicious grove,
This garden, planted with the trees of God,
Delectable both to behold and taste;

And freely all their pleasant fruit for food

540

Gave thee; all forts are here that all th' earth yields

Variety without end; but of the tree,

Which tafted works knowledge of good and evil,

Thou may'st not; in the day thou eat'ft, thou dy'ft; Death is the penalty impos'd, beware,

And

govern well thy appetite, left Sin

545

Surprise thee, and her black attendent Death.
Here finish'd he, and all that he had made
View'd, and behold all was entirely good;
So ev❜n and morn accomplish'd the fixth day: 550

Is yet diftinct by name, thence, as
thou know'ft,

He brought thee into this delicious
grove,
This garden, &'c.

Dr. Bentley and Mr. Fenton in their
editions have pointed the paffage
wrong, and contrary to Milton's
own editions, by putting a full ftop
before thence, where fhould be only
a comma, and by putting a comma
after this verfe, where fhould be a
full ftop,

And every living thing that moves on th' earth, and fo referring wherever thus created

Yet

to every living thing, whereas it fhould be join'd in conftruction with He brought thee; Wherever thus created, thence he brought thee &c.

548. Here finish'd he, and all that be bad made

View'd,] The paufe is very remarkable, and admirably expresses the Creator furveying and contemplating his work,

and behold all was entirely good; So ev'n and more accomplisb'd the fixth day.

He finifhes the account of the creation, in the fame manner as Mofes, Gen. I. 31. And God farw every

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